


Chatting over chess

by Nightalp



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: Chess, Gen, Prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28311456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightalp/pseuds/Nightalp
Summary: Prisons, Eugenides had said once, back in the awkward phase when Relius had slowly come to see him as less the clueless crownstealer and more of a respected friend and king, are all the same. Sure, they have different accommodations, but all of them are stifling you until you can't breathe, and no matter where they are, they are always damp.Relius would have paid a fortune to never find out just how right he was.
Relationships: Relius/Teleus (Queen's Thief)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Chatting over chess

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Senri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senri/gifts).



> Hi, and Merry Christmas!
> 
> I had a lot of fun with your prompts, and so I wrote two stories. This is the more fun one, with a more serious one being the [other](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28147839)  
> Hope you like!

Prisons, Eugenides had said once, back in the awkward phase when Relius had slowly come to see him as less the clueless crownstealer and more of a respected friend and king, are all the same. Sure, they have different accommodations, but all of them are stifling you until you can't breathe, and no matter where they are, they are always damp.

Relius would have paid a fortune to never find out just how right he was.

Considering he was from a country Pent was not, technically, at war with, and maybe also due to the fact that someone, somewhere, thought it might be prudent not to mistreat a favorite of their queen - and their king but many still underestimated Eugenides - too much, just in case they might play at peace and allies again, Relius' stay was a good bit better than what a spy could usually expect - the initial interrogation more of a harsh talk and some roughing him up, and since then being forgotten in a cell with a small window that he could see the sky through, mostly dry walls, and a wooden cot that kept his straw mostly safe from the dampness of the floor.

"Are you awake?", a heavily accented voice asked from outside his door and for a moment Relius was contemplating not answering.

He had been forgotten in a cell with a small window, dry walls and a cot with straw - and a chatty night guard who seemed to have made it his mission to haunt Relius.

"I've got roasted bread from the kitchen", the guard continued, not waiting for Relius' answer at all. "And so true as my name is Lynx, it is the best bread Hedwig has ever made!"

Lynx - who's name was as much Lynx as it was Fox or Raven or any of the other names he'd offered Relius over the time of his stay, Relius wagered - pushed a plate through the little trap door at the bottom of the door.

His treatment was better than a normal spy's, his food good enough to keep him alive, but that was far from being fed well. And growing up poor had taught him to never say no to free food, especially when the only string attached was talking to some too chatty guard.

Getting up from his cot he picked the plate up. The bread was still warm, and coated in the garlicky cream they seemed to love around here. "Thank you."

"Ah, no worry!", the guard crowed. A couple light steps back from the door before he came back and something - a chair or a stool, Relius thought - thudded down in front of his door. Probably a perch of some kind; somehow Relius couldn't imagine him sitting properly anymore than he could see his king doing so.

"Chess?", he offered, and that was the other reason Relius put up with him - aside from the free food, and the fact that no spy would ever turn down an option to get free information and maybe an empathetic guard.

"Of course", he said, making sure to sound not quite as eager as he was. "I still owe you a rematch, don't I?"

They played with a slate passed through the trap door, the game pieces just white chalk marks on the dark ground. Lynx ... wasn't the best of players - though sometimes Relius felt as if he held back, underselling his skill - yet he was enthusiastic and, even more important, he quickly started to talk.

Never anything important - and Relius took notice of that, both because he was hunting for important information and because he wasn't quite convinced he'd truly been forgotten when he'd been Attolia's former spymaster - and yet Relius learned much about the goings-on in the castle.

Hedwig, the main cook, was rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of Baron Greenforest, which would make her the king's aunt. The master of the dogs was frequently invited into Prince Owald's rooms, far more than even the prince' love for the hunt and the breeding of dogs could account for. The princess' scribe was having an affair with at least half a dozen servants, and only allowed to remain with the girl because all of them were male.

"Heard you're a fox like that yourself, too", Lynx said while passing the slate back.

Relius felt his eyebrows rise at the move he'd made. Daring, wasn't he? It would be easy to take the queen off the field this way ... Belatedly realizing that he'd been asked a question he shrugged, realized that Lynx couldn't see it, and answered. "A few lovers. My position didn't lend itself to having favorites."

"Which is exactly what someone having favorites would say", the guard teased back.

Relius grinned, knowing full well it would look like baring his teeth if the other could see him. "It's also what someone in my position would say", he pointed out.

Lynx barked a laugh. "Your position? You mean to tell me one of them would have your balls if they knew you'd picked another as favorite?"

That ...! Relius tried for outrage yet only managed a huff of amusement. "All of them would, though I was more referring to being stuck in prison."

"Ah." Silence as they continued to play, Relius taking Lynx' queen only to get surprised two rounds later when he somehow managed to get to of his pawns to be made into replacements; he would have suspected cheating except he'd played against Eugenides and it was hard to imagine someone being better at it than the former thief of Eddis, Master of the Sleight of Hand.

"I hope you have someone", Lynx finally said, in a calmer voice (And actually what was it with them never getting disturbed? With how much noise he made Relius wondered how none of his prisonmates weren't waking up and complaining about the noise the way they usually did if some guard didn't act to their liking; the (former?) merchant two doors down from Relius was especially vocal).

"Someone?", he repeated, distracted. How had Lynx gotten him into this situation?

"A favorite. Someone who's waiting for you, when you come back."

When, not if, as if his release was a done thing already. And yet it was the unbidden - and still cherished, so much - sight of Teleus' face illuminated by the fire, stern expression warmed only by a hint of an amused smile, Pheris sitting in the chair opposite, his gangly limbs almost vanishing in the plush seat, eyes shaded by a hint of distrust yet warmth and trust speaking from the way he still sat there, that hit him unexpectedly. Swallowing against the sudden lump in his throat he had to blink fast to hold back the tears as emotions he hadn't dared think about - hadn't dared admit, not ever, not when he could still die without ever seeing them again – Great Goddess, did they even know that he was still alive?

"Yes", he croaked, for a moment forgetting that he shouldn't give those information to someone he didn't know, didn't trust.

"I'm glad", Lynx said, then, with a grin in his voice as wide as the one Relius imagined on his face: "And that is a victory for me, I think!"

Staring uncomprehendingly at the slate being passed back he realized - yes, yes, Lynx was right, somehow Relius had lost.

"Did you ... did you talk about my feelings to distract me?" And did Relius actually fall for that?!

Lynx just crowed. "It worked, didn't it? And just in time - I need to go back on my round."

Still shocked Relius passed the slate back, followed by the plate - though not shocked enough to not hear when he said, in validation: "Give your lover and your ward my greetings, friend. And your king my thanks for the earrings."

  
  


It was the last time he spoke to him, the guards coming to release him not three days later, and it took him a while to remember the words - how could he think of the inane words of a chatty guard when he was back in Attolia, walking under the sun again, Teleus strong arm around him, or sitting in his study, Pheris a welcome challenge on the other sight of his desk?

And yet at one point he did, and then he couldn't not go to his king, relaying the words the guard had said to him.

Eugenides had ... stilled, the way he did when he was unsure how to react for a moment, before he tilted his head, wry smile stealing over his face. "Huh. Always knew that would come in handy." And when Relius only blinked at him he added: "Irene and Agape are the only ones I ever gave earrings to. The only human ones, that is."

Relius' reaction might have been a little more dramatic. But then you didn't learn every day that you'd called a god - even one from a different pantheon - a lying son of a bitch.

  
  


  
  


  
  



End file.
